The Border Industrial Associationhttp://nmbia.org
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 16:05:22 +0000en-UShourly1NM Exports to Mexico Doubled in 2014http://nmbia.org/2015/02/nm-exports-to-mexico-doubled-in-2014/
http://nmbia.org/2015/02/nm-exports-to-mexico-doubled-in-2014/#commentsMon, 16 Feb 2015 17:12:55 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=1190Continue reading]]>New Mexican exports to Mexico grew by 93% in 2014. A majority of this growth is due to the success of BIA members in the Santa Teresa/Sunland Park region which reinforces the BIA’s vision that New Mexico’s economic future is tied to Mexico. By focusing on and developing New Mexico’s border region we can bring increased economic development and prosperity to the entire state.

New Mexico’s exports to Mexico nearly doubled in 2014 to $1.55 billion, earning the Land of Enchantment bragging rights as the state with the highest percentage growth in exports to Mexico nationwide.

State exports south of the border jumped 93 percent, up from $800.7 million in 2013, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce. That far outpaced Montana, the state reporting the second-highest growth rate for exports to Mexico last year, up 66 percent.

More than half of New Mexico’s exports to Mexico are originating from Doña Ana County, most of that from the border industrial parks at Santa Teresa, said Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator.

Computer equipment and components are the number-one commodity heading from New Mexico southward, nearly all of which to supply the huge Foxconn plant across the border from Santa Teresa and other “maquila” assembly factories in Mexico, Pacheco said.

“Foxconn is doing up to 50,000 computers a day at the plant, with companies at Santa Teresa supplying a huge percent of the equipment and components for it,” Pacheco said. “And Foxconn recently started to produce flat screen TVs at the plant, and it’s consolidating operations there with companies like Hewlett Packard and others, all of which provides more opportunities for companies based in Santa Teresa.”

“We’ve been trying for more than two decades to take advantage of Mexico’s maquilas to create an industrial base here, and it’s really paying off at Santa Teresa,” Pacheco said. “We’re really getting the word out nationally and internationally that we’re open for business, and that Santa Teresa is situated perfectly to supply Mexico’s industry. I think we’ve reached the tipping point.”

Some 65 companies currently operate at the industrial parks at Santa Teresa, with 99.99 percent of the buildings there now filled up. With support industries for those companies also growing, some 4,000 employees now work in and around the industrial parks, Pacheco said.

New Mexico’s exports southward helped push the state’s total exports up 39 percent last year, from $2.73 billion in 2013 to $3.8 billion. That’s the state’s highest export total ever, representing early $1 billion more than the last peak year in 2006, when state exports reached $2.9 billion.

Exports have grown to other regions of the world, fueled in part by state efforts to provide export assistance to local companies to take more advantage of global markets.

Exports to Europe, for example, grew by 81 percent last year, from $348 million in 2013 to $633 million. Exports to the Middle East, as well, rose by 11 percent, from $816 million in 2013 to $902 million.

But while exports in general do appear to be growing, some of that activity reflects the ebb and flow of shipments from Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho to its sister facilities in places like Israel. About 90 percent of New Mexico exports to the Middle East last year went to Israel, the vast majority of those shipments being computer-related electronics and components.

]]>http://nmbia.org/2015/02/nm-exports-to-mexico-doubled-in-2014/feed/0Overweight Zone Expansion – A BIA 2015 Legislative Priorityhttp://nmbia.org/2015/02/overweight-zone-expansion-a-bia-2015-legislative-priority/
http://nmbia.org/2015/02/overweight-zone-expansion-a-bia-2015-legislative-priority/#commentsSat, 14 Feb 2015 00:27:55 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=1186Continue reading]]>In 2011, the New Mexico Legislature and Governor Susana Martinez established a six-mile overweight zone for commercial cargo at the ports of Santa Teresa and Columbus, New Mexico – both land-based ports of entry that don’t require crossing a river. Maximum weights for commercial loads are 80,000 pounds in the U.S., and 96,000 pounds in Mexico. The overweight zone allows loads up to 96,000 pounds coming from or going to Mexico within a six-mile range of the ports of entry. Since its inception, 12 new logistics and distribution companies have moved operations within this zone, creating more than 600 jobs. The zone has proven to be popular with firms wishing to save on their logistics costs by not having to reduce their loads coming from Mexico into the U.S.

Due to its success and the desire to include the new Union Pacific Intermodal Yards, legislation has been drafted to extend the zone to a distance 12 miles north of the Santa Teresa and Columbus Ports of Entry. During the summer, New Mexico’s Legislative House Transportation Committee voted unanimously to endorse the legislation, which will be introduced in the January 2013 session of the New Mexico Legislature. There is strong support behind this bill, and if passed it is expected to generate even more jobs and investment in New Mexico’s border region.

For more information on the overweight cargo zones, please contact Jerry Pacheco at 575-589-2200 or jerry@nmbia.org.

Proposed Overweight Zone expansion at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.

Proposed Overweight Zone expansion at the Columbus Port of Entry.

]]>http://nmbia.org/2015/02/overweight-zone-expansion-a-bia-2015-legislative-priority/feed/0KVIA Reports on Growth in Santa Teresahttp://nmbia.org/2015/02/kvia-reports-on-growth-in-santa-teresa/
http://nmbia.org/2015/02/kvia-reports-on-growth-in-santa-teresa/#commentsFri, 06 Feb 2015 16:30:38 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=1174Continue reading]]>KVIA News recently covered the lack of industrial space available in Santa Teresa due to the region’s booming growth. See the video below.video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
]]>http://nmbia.org/2015/02/kvia-reports-on-growth-in-santa-teresa/feed/02015 BIA Legislative Priorities Listhttp://nmbia.org/2015/01/2015-bia-legislative-priorities-list/
http://nmbia.org/2015/01/2015-bia-legislative-priorities-list/#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 20:18:53 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=1146Continue reading]]>Here is a detailed view of the bills the BIA will be supporting in the 2015 session of the New Mexico State Legislature:

Airport Rd, the main arterial leading into the two most populated industrial parks in Santa Teresa, is close to 30 years old and in dire need of replacement. If this road is allowed to further deteriorate, we will start to see companies leave the Santa Teresa industrial base. Recruiting new companies to the region will also be hampered.

The PVD Interchange will connect the old portion of Industrial Blvd. to the southbound lane of the Pete V. Domenici Highway. This will allow for more efficient southbound traffic flow, as well as creating a badly needed evacuation route should any emergency occur in the industrial parks.

In order to achieve the $7.5 million needed, capital outlay will need to be acquired from the following sources:

Governor Martinez’s portion of the statewide capital outlay

Individual legislators’ capital outlay apportionments

LEDA funding from Secretary Jon Barela – based on new company recruitment and new job creation.

Funding from NMDOT’s local highway district headed by Trent Doolittle.

Note: Dona Ana County has appropriated more than $200,000 for design purposes for these projects.

2) Overweight zone extension:

The Santa Teresa and Columbus overweight cargo zones need to be extended. In the case of Santa Teresa, Jerry Pacheco originally designed the overweight zone in 2010, without knowing where the Union Pacific Intermodal Yard would be located. The northern boundary of the overweight zone was established where the southern end of the UP project was estimated to be. However, the intermodal yards where the freight exchange actually takes place are located approximately two miles north. Therefore, we need to extend the overweight zone as denoted on the map below.

The House Transportation Committee voted unanimously to endorse the extension of the overweight zone to encompass the Union Pacific Intermodal Yards, along with the extension of the Columbus zone.

Proposed Overweight Zone expansion at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.

Proposed Overweight Zone expansion at the Columbus Port of Entry.

3) Modification of Load Retention Statute for Electricity Users:

A. The commission may approve or otherwise allow to become effective, as provided in Subsection B of this section, applications from utilities or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 or filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Subsection F of Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978, as appropriate for special rates or tariffs in order to prevent the loss of customers, to encourage customers to expand present facilities and operations in New Mexico and to attract new customers where necessary or appropriate to promote economic development in New Mexico. Any such special rates or tariffs shall be designed so as to recover at least the incremental cost of providing service to such customers.

B. The commission may approve or otherwise allow to become effective applications from utilities or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 and filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Subsection F of Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 for economic development rates and rates designed to retain load for gas and electric utility customers. For purposes of this section and Section 62-8-6 NMSA 1978, economic development rates and rates designed to retain load are rates set at a level lower than the corresponding service rate for which a customer would otherwise qualify, but in no case lower than the incremental cost of providing service to such customers.

C. Economic development rates shall be approved or otherwise allowed to become effective for an electric utility or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 or filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Subsection F of Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 only when the utility or the substantially full requirements supplier of the utility has excess capacity. For purposes of this section, “excess capacity” means the amount of electric generating and purchased power capacity available to the utility or such supplier that is greater than the utility’s or such supplier’s peak load plus a fixed percentage reserve margin set by the commission.

4) Legislation to manage the used cars parked on the sides of the southbound commercial lane at the STPOE:
Status: After several meetings with officials from Dona Ana County, Motor Transportation Division, CBP, and Dona Ana County Sheriff’s officials, the following course of action was decided upon: Jerry Pacheco and Chuck McMahon would contact MTD General Counsel Amy Orlando to ask for assistance in identifying the specific statute(s) that need to be legislatively modified in order to provide law enforcement officials with the authority necessary to immediately demand that parked vehicles within close proximity of the POE be removed.

Jerry has left several phone messages for Ms. Orlando, as well as an email explaining the situation. She has not responded.

5) GRT Abatement for Trade Support Companies

This former piece of legislation was designed to attract more customs brokerage and logistics firms to the Santa Teresa region. The bill, which was passed in the 2003 session, allows absolves these types of companies from collecting GRT from their clients for a period of four years. The legislation had a sunset period that was renewed in the 2007 session. The bill was reintroduced during the past two sessions and had general support, but ran out of time. (Please see attached write up).

Robin Zielinski Sun-NewsERO Intermodal owner Ernesto Olivas, right, is congratulated by Phillip Cordova CEO of Alliance Riggers & Constructors, of El Paso, Texas, on Thursday after the ribbon cutting ceremony for ERO in Santa Teresa. The company provides container storage as well as mechanical services for fail related business. About 50 new jobs is projected within the next three years.

SANTA TERESA >> Train whistles and the rumble of trucks in southern Doña Ana County got a boost Thursday as E.R.O. Intermodal Services celebrated the opening of its location in the Santa Teresa Intermodal Park.

The company, run by Ernesto Olivas and his family, was established in September 1993 as a heavy-duty truck and trailer parts retailer in El Paso.

In 1997, it grew to include a maintenance and repairs section that soon took over all the services for the container yard company in El Paso. And, in 2008 E.R.O. established an area for storing goods in transit.

That’s exactly the need in the intermodal park, especially since Union Pacific has come to the playing field bringing ever-increasing amounts of cargo that will pass through Santa Teresa on train and truck.

“When U.P. moved out here they told me, ‘you are the only company doing it all'” when it came to servicing trucks and offering space to store containers near the rail hub, Olivas said.

Within three years, the company estimates it will have a workforce of 50 employees in Santa Teresa. The location will include a six-acre logistics yard and an equipment supply operation.

Local economic developers say that is the kind of private investment that is needed to continue the growth in Santa Teresa.

“We’re welcoming private-sector development into the area,” said Davin Lopez, director of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance. “It’s a critical aspect to providing service and support to a truly global intermodal hub.”

And private investment is needed to create more space for the ever-growing Intermodal Park since Union Pacific moved in late May to a new, $400 million intermodal facility in Santa Teresa. Coming in at nearly 12 miles long and spanning some 2,200 acres, the facility is reshaping the economies of Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico.

“Sometimes it’s the right place at the right time,” said Ed Camden, president of the board of the Border Industrial Association, a group of 105 businesses involved in the development around the intermodal park. “Sometimes it’s government (that leads to development) but at the end of the day, it doesn’t happen without private investment.”

Jerry Pacheco, vice president of the Border Industrial Association, said the arrival of E.R.O. means that roughly 99 percent of the already-constructed space in the park is occupied. That does not mean, however, there is not room to grow and there is no need for potential new partners to shy away from the area. With a total of 3.3 million available square feet of office and other commercial space, some 8,000 square feet remains unfilled after this year’s business boom.

Especially desirable are companies like E.R.O. who are willing to use available, unbuilt acreage for build-to-suit projects. And, he added, local economic development officials and the Border Industrial Association are more than willing to help arrange such deals.

“We have 20,000-plus acres available for commercial, industrial and residential development,” he said. “No company should be worried about doing deals” because of a lack of space.

The build-to-suit option suited E.R.O. perfectly as they move roughly two-thirds of their business from El Paso to Santa Teresa, Olivas said.

“It’s taken six months of timing, hard work. However, I feel very, very excited about this opportunity,” Olivas said.

Pacheco said the park is poised for growth, but needs some assistance from local and state governments to get the infrastructure up to par. Airport Road, the primary inroad to the park, was never designed to handle the amount of traffic that it now carries. Proposals for funding will, hopefully, be addressed in the upcoming 60-day legislative session which begins this month.

The Doña Ana County Legislative Coalition, a group of elected, governmental and private-sector leaders, has proposed requesting $7.2 million for complete reconstruction of Airport Road. Local leaders will also press legislators to consider expanding the current six-mile overwieght zone, which allows cross-border traffic that exceeds U.S. weight limits to come a certain distance across the border, to a 12-mile zone to include the Santa Teresa Industrial Park area.

Jason Gibbs may be reached at 575-541-5451.

]]>http://nmbia.org/2015/01/ero-intermodal-services-opens-in-santa-teresa/feed/0Latest Aerials of Santa Teresa – June 2014http://nmbia.org/2014/06/latest-aerials-of-santa-teresa-june-2014/
http://nmbia.org/2014/06/latest-aerials-of-santa-teresa-june-2014/#commentsThu, 12 Jun 2014 22:44:17 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=950Continue reading]]>Thanks go out to Suzie Azar and Jack Brown for these aerials taken last week.
]]>http://nmbia.org/2014/06/latest-aerials-of-santa-teresa-june-2014/feed/0Photos from the Union Pacific Grand Openinghttp://nmbia.org/2014/06/photos-from-the-union-pacific-grand-opening/
http://nmbia.org/2014/06/photos-from-the-union-pacific-grand-opening/#commentsWed, 04 Jun 2014 16:24:27 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=886Continue reading]]>Here is a gallery of photos taken during Union Pacific’s Grand Opening.
]]>http://nmbia.org/2014/06/photos-from-the-union-pacific-grand-opening/feed/0Health Sciences Academy to Offer Diploma Program for Adultshttp://nmbia.org/2014/04/health-sciences-academy-to-offer-diploma-program-for-adults/
http://nmbia.org/2014/04/health-sciences-academy-to-offer-diploma-program-for-adults/#commentsTue, 29 Apr 2014 16:16:40 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=859Continue reading]]>The Health Sciences Academy of Santa Teresa would like to let our members know that they will be offering a program for adults beginning in August. The program is in the evening and will allow adults (21 years and older) to complete a high school diploma with an emphasis on healthcare. See the flyer below:

For more information contact the HSA at 575-882-5556 or visit www.hsanm.org.

]]>http://nmbia.org/2014/04/photos-of-the-union-pacific-railyard/feed/0NM’s Federal Delegation Responds to the City of El Paso’s Attempt at Skimming Santa Teresa’s Future Export Statisticshttp://nmbia.org/2014/03/nms-federal-delegation-responds-to-the-city-of-el-pasos-attempt-at-skimming-santa-teresas-future-export-statistics/
http://nmbia.org/2014/03/nms-federal-delegation-responds-to-the-city-of-el-pasos-attempt-at-skimming-santa-teresas-future-export-statistics/#commentsThu, 20 Mar 2014 21:46:27 +0000http://nmbia.org/?p=783Continue reading]]>Attached is the letter from New Mexico’s congressional delegation to Customs and Border Protection pertaining to the City of El Paso’s attempt to change Santa Teresa’s port reporting code. This was an attempt by the City of El Paso to co-opt Santa Teresa’s future trade numbers with Mexico.

We recently received the enclosed letter from the Border Industrial Association expressing concern about a proposal in the “City of El Paso 2014 Federal Legislative Agenda.”

According to the El Paso agenda, the city plans to request that “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expand the current boundaries of El Paso’s port code (2402) to include new Santa Teresa Rail Terminal located in Straus, New Mexico.” (see attached)

As you know, pursuant to federal law the Santa Teresa Rail Terminal is located within the port code for the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico. Therefor, we believe there is no rational basis to expand the El Paso port’s boundaries to include the Santa Teresa Rail Terminal and the Terminal should remain within the boundaries of the Santa Teresa port code.

We understand that extending the geographical limits of a port of entry is burdensome and would require CBP to conduct a federal rulemaking process. While we have no reason to believe CBP plans to expand the El Paso port’s boundaries, we wish to preemptively express our opposition to any effort to transfer the Santa Teresa Rail Terminal to a different port.